


The End of the Chapter

by caveyoja



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fix-It, Hopeful Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 03:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8732233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveyoja/pseuds/caveyoja
Summary: Belle and Rumplestiltskin have a long overdue discussion.





	

Granny had insisted that she stay with her – told her that no one should go through what she was going through on their own. She should probably be grateful for that, but she couldn't think right now. She was a raw nerve ending whiplashing from one extreme to another – from grief over giving away her baby to fury at Rumple for endangering them and then ending up in stark, numb exhaustion. All she wanted right now was to sleep and dream of her baby.

She ignored the knock on her door. It came again, more insistent, and this time with a questioning, “Belle?” in Regina's voice. Or, maybe it was the Evil Queen. She couldn't be bothered to care.

The knock came again. She angrily shouted, “Go away!”, and burrowed under the covers. There was a soft whoosh of air as Regina teleported herself inside. Did no one respect her wishes?

She heard Regina move a chair closer to the bed and sit down. “Belle – there's something you need to know.”

“Go away.”

“No.”

Belle threw the covers off herself and glared at Regina. “What?”

Regina held an opened book out to Belle, and pointed out a passage. “This is Zelena's spellbook,” she explained gently, as if she were talking to a child. Belle grimaced and grabbed the book from her hands, seeing what appeared to be a sleeping curse. Regina continued, “That's the curse you used in the Underworld.”

Belle held the book up to the light and saw notes in the margin, “What's this?”

Regina avoided her eyes, “She made some...adaptations.”

Belle sat up straighter and squinted at the scribbled notes, “What kind of adaptations?”

Regina got up and stepped over to the window, gathering her courage. “It is possible to modify a sleeping curse. You can influence the dreams of your....victim.”

Belle lowered the book, “Just what the Hell are you saying?”

Regina frowned and reached into her purse, pulling out a vial of powder. Belle backed up, but her legs were tangled in the sheets, and she couldn't get away before Regina blew the powder in her direction. She closed her eyes and felt a chill where it touched her skin, then a flash of pain. 

Belle opened her eyes and stared blankly ahead. Her head was...clear. The emotions were still there, but they were no longer overwhelming. She pulled herself from the bed and stood up shakily. “What was that?”

“Zelena added something extra to the sleeping curse she gave you. It heightened your emotions – both in the dream and after you woke up. The longer it went on, the stronger it got.” She capped the vial and put in back in her purse, avoiding Belle's eyes. 

Belle dropped down into the chair, and closed her eyes, “She used me to get to Rumple.”

Regina nodded, and crouched down next to Belle, taking her hand, “She's obsessed, Belle. She would do anything to hurt Rumple. Taking another son away from him was too much of a temptation for her to resist.”

Belle shook her head sadly, “She may have set things in motion, but she didn't take my son away. Rumple did that when he used the powder on me.”

Regina's eyes widened, “You don't know?”

“Know what?” Belle looked at her suspiciously.

“Rumple didn't use the powder. It was the Evil Queen.” Belle began to shake her head and Regina put her finger on Belle's chin, raising it so they made eye contact. “She did it to make sure he would lose you and the baby.”

Belle stood quickly and turned away, bracing her arms against the dresser. Everything since the Underworld had been a blur, and she knew she hadn't been thinking things through but was too desperate and angry to care. Zelena had played her when she'd told her about Rumple and the Queen – and about the shears. Had Rumple said what he was going to do with them? Had she been functioning on her assumptions?

No – she had another source – she'd had....

She spun around to face Regina, “I had dreams of my son. He was grown, and told me that Rumple would destroy us. Were they real?”

Regina paused, taken aback by the question. “I...don't know. As unlikely as it may seem, you and Rumple are True Love – that can manifest in a lot of ways. It might be real – but it might have been just as colored by the poison in Zelena's curse as your emotions were.”

Belle let out a deep breath to try to calm herself enough to piece it all together. Rumple had the power of all the Dark Ones, and had declared that it was a part of him that wasn't going away. Loving him meant accepting his darkness. He didn't scare her – she knew he wouldn't hurt her – but that did. However many times she'd said she loved all of him, including the darkness, she'd always thought that their love would be enough to eventually cure him. To make him the hero that she knew he had in him – the hero she'd seen when Emma had taken on the curse. She'd always believed that the darkness was temporary.

But when she got desperate, she counted on his darkness. His willingness to do anything for their son. That was why she'd removed herself from the equation. So Rumple could do what he had to without worrying about how she would react. She'd been willfully blind to Zelena's motives because it didn't matter that Zelena was a villain or that she was supposed to be a hero. None of that mattered when her baby was in danger. 

Rumple would have empathized with that. He understood using everything and everyone for your child. He hadn't understood why she'd turned away from him after the sleeping curse was lifted. She wanted to blame it all on the poison Zelena had weaved into the curse, but that would be a lie. Even under its influence, she knew Rumple would do anything for them. 

The safest place for them would have been with him. But she'd been a coward. She knew she should have questioned the warning Gideon had given her in the dream, but it was an easy way to get away from the darkness. Rumple being comfortable with the darkness reminded her of too much of the Gauntlet leading to his dagger – to the realization that his power meant more to him than she did. She couldn't go through that again, so she ran and she lied to him about the real reason why. 

Rumple had been guilty of many things, but ever since his heart had been cleansed he had at least been honest with her. He had been trying, and that was more than she could say for herself. 

She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus. She could question her motives and Rumple's motives for an eternity, but right now she needed to prioritize. Gideon was not in danger from Rumple. She needed to get her baby back, and then she and Rumple could hash out what, if anything, was left between them.

She pulled her shoes on, reached for her coat, and turned to Regina. “Take me to the convent.”

 

 

They appeared just outside Blue's door. Regina tried the knob and found it locked. Belle felt her heart speed up and looked to Regina, who fired a burst of magic at the door, and strode in with Belle a step behind. Belle felt her heart sink as she took the room in – there were a few books and pictures left, but all the magical artifacts had been stripped away.

Footsteps approached and they both turned to see a group of nuns gathered outside the door. “Where is she?” Regina demanded.

The nuns looked at each other, and Astrid was pushed to the front. “She...Um, that is, Blue – she left.”

“Yes – we know she left. Why is she not back yet? And where are all her little toys?' Regina spit out, stalking toward Astrid.

The other fairies stopped Astrid from backing away, and she nervously sputtered, “We don't know if she's coming back. She took her wand, and all the pixie dust...and...”

“And?” Regina prompted impatiently.

Astrid straightened up and looked sadly at Belle, “And the Black Fairy's wand.”

The words echoed in her ears. The Black Fairy's wand...the wand that had belonged to Rumple's mother – the demon who stole children from their mother's arms. And she'd handed her baby over willingly. Her body went numb and she collapsed to the floor. 

Regina glared at the fairies and pushed them out of the room with a wave of her hand, slamming the door behind them. She pulled Belle to her feet, held her by the shoulders, and looked into her eyes. “There is no time for a breakdown. We have to find your baby.”

“We?” Belle asked, forcing herself to focus.

Regina nodded, “My wicked sister and evil other half got you into this – and I'm not going to let them win.” She put her arm around Belle and grimaced as she cast a teleportation spell, “Besides – it's what heroes do.'

 

 

Belle found herself in front of the pawn shop door when the smoke cleared. “I thought you said we were going to look for my son?”

“If we're going up against Blue and whatever magic she's hoarded, we need as much firepower as we can get – and other than you, no one has more of a vested interested in saving your son than Rumple. I know things are bad between you two – but you have to pull things together for your son.”

Belle nodded slowly. Regina was right. Whatever Rumple had done – whatever she had done – it didn't matter now. All that mattered was her – no – their baby. She took a deep breath, and reached for the door, stopping short when she found it locked. She looked back at Regina, who furrowed her brow and sent a burst of magic toward the door. It had absolutely no effect.

Belle knocked loudly against the door, “Rumple! Let me in! It's important!” She waited a few seconds for a reply, but heard nothing. 

Regina nudged her shoulder, “Try again. Tell him it's about the baby.”

Belle hit the door harder, “Please, Rumple- it's about our baby!”

A second passed, and she heard the latch turn. She opened the door to find the store wrecked beyond repair. This was Rumple when he was angry beyond words – he would forget his magic and lash out with his bare hands. This time she couldn't blame him for it. “In the back, dearie,” he called out to her.

Regina tried to step into the shop, but the doorway was sealed against her. Belle held up a hand, “It's ok – I can handle this.”

“Well, shout if you need me. I'll figure something out.'

Belle took a second to straighten her clothes before heading into the back room. Rumple was slouched at his workbench with an almost empty scotch bottle in font of him. He didn't move to acknowledge her as she entered, and after an uncomfortable pause she ventured, “Rumple?”

He stared into the glass in his hands. “You said there was something important about our baby.”

“Blue's taken him -”

“You GAVE him to her,” he cut in, still staring into his glass.

Belle paused. Fighting now would only provoke him further. He wouldn't hurt her, but she wouldn't be able to protect anyone who got in his way if the Dark One tore off in a rage. Besides, they had more important things to focus on. “That was a mistake. I understand that now.”

He chuckled bitterly, “Well, there's that, I guess.”

“I need your help – we have to find him.”

She flinched as he threw his glass against the wall, where it shattered and joined the other debris on the floor. “See – I told you you'd come to me. I told you you'd need me.”

He looked up at her and they locked eyes. “You're drunk.”

He smirked, “The Dark One can't get drunk, and the cowardly spinner couldn't afford to. You'll have to find another of my vices to criticize today.”

“I understand why you're drinking - ”

“How generous of you.”

“Rumple – please - “

“Please, what, dearie?”

“Rumple – I was cursed - “

“Join the club,” he scoffed. He materialized a glass and poured the rest of the bottle into it.

“Zelena's curse – she added something to it. It poisoned my emotions, and I couldn't think rationally.”

Rumple leaned his head back against the chair and stared up at the ceiling, “And you're better now, are you?”

“Regina removed the spell.”

“Well – I'll have to send her a thank you card for that.”

“Rumple – please – I'm sorry – I made a mistake going to Zelena.”

“Calling it a mistake would be generous,” he sneered.

Belle drew up short. He had every right to be angry, and the scotch wasn't helping his temperament. But this was new. Even when she'd used the dagger on him – exiled him – he'd forgiven her. But this might be beyond his forgiveness.

“Cat got your tongue, dearie?”

She took a step closer to him through the rubble, and he didn't move a muscle when she stumbled. She righted herself and kicked a broken bottle out of the way to clear a space. She cleared her throat to get his attention, and saw him grimace. Before he could make another remark she announced, “His name is Gideon.”

He frowned for a second, trying to place the name and shook his head as it hit him. “That book of yours. Gideon is the one who fights the evil sorcerer.”

Belle froze. That hadn't occurred to her. She'd wanted a hero's name, and the name of the hero of her favorite book had seemed obvious to her. Now she was second guessing herself and reading more into it. “That's not why I chose it,” she said weakly. 

He jumped to his feet angrily, sweeping the bottle from the table and stalked toward her, 'DO NOT LIE TO ME!”

Belle forced herself to stand her ground, “I'm not lying!”

Rumple pointed at her, and she could almost see the imp, “You may not think so, but when you said that I would lose you forever, that was a lie.” She narrowed her eyes in confusion, and he turned from her, the imp's flourish melting away, “It's a lie because I've already lost you. I was having trouble keeping track for a while, but it's obvious now.” He turned back to her, “You no longer love me.”

Belle stared at him in surprise. She stammered, “No – I do love -”

Rumple raised his finger, interrupting her, “Unh-uh, dearie. No lies now.”

She reached out and took his hand, his eyes following her hand, “I do love you. No matter what has happened.”

His voice was quieter – more Gold than Imp, “Zelena's sleeping curse was poisoned?”

Belle nodded, “I couldn't think straight. I wouldn't have run away from you - “

Gold grimaced and shook his head, “Please – just stop,” he whispered. He turned his back to her, his hand coming up to cover his eyes.

She stepped toward him, a hand on his shoulder, “Rumple, I wouldn't have left! The curse made me suspect you. I know you'd never hurt me or the baby.”

He chuckled sadly, and shrugged out from under her hand. He walked behind his workbench, putting space between them. He brushed debris from it before he leaned on his outstretched arms and faced her. “This started before the sleeping curse. I have never regained your trust. You will always suspect me, and it has nothing to do with the Dark curse. When I was free from it, when my heart was pure – you turned your back on me. I should have known it then. Dark One or not, I will never be good enough. There will always be a reason to walk away from me, and I cannot do this any more. I can't go through losing you over and over again.”

Belle felt as if her heart had stopped. Not having his forgiveness was one thing – something she could work to win. But not having his love? She couldn't imagine a world without that. 

She cleared her throat, and tried to keep her voice steady, “So – you don't love me, then.”

Rumple closed his eyes and shook his head, “No. I will always love you, and I will always love our son. I will do everything I can to make sure you and he are safe, and I will do my best to make sure you're happy. Regardless of whether or not you or he love me.”

Belle stared at him. He was calm, he sounded rational. But he was wrong – whatever problems they had, she still loved him. How could he not know that? She did her best to keep from crying as she started toward him, insisting, “You're wrong - ” she caught herself again as she slipped on the debris. Rumple held up a hand for her to stop, and twisted his fingers into a spell, restoring the shop. 

She took the last few steps to stand across from him, crossing her arms as she insisted, “That's not true, Rumple! We're True Love – the kiss in the sleeping curse proved that!”

Rumple raised an eyebrow, “The kiss that stopped once you remembered.”

“You can't destroy True Love.”

He sighed, “You can, actually. I broke your trust in me by hiding things and lying. You broke my heart by walking away from me and putting your trust in the woman who killed my son and who, “ he swallowed, paused, and then continued, “Who enslaved me.”

She felt a tear slip down her cheek, “And you can't forgive me for that.”

He smiled sadly, “Belle – I can forgive you anything. But I'm not sure that I trust you.” 

Belle's mouth dropped open in surprise, and Rumple held up his hand, gesturing for her to let him continue. 

“You have always felt that I needed to be fixed – that True Love meant that you would break my curse, and that I would be reborn as a hero. That there was a good man inside me, and if you inspired me to try hard enough that the good man would overcome the evil sorcerer. Like the hero in your book.”

He walked to a side table, and pulled a book from it as he continued, “The problem was, there is no delineation between the man and the sorcerer. It's not about power or darkness. It's about who I am. I am the Dark One, but I'm still the man whose heart has been cleansed, and who pulled Excalibur from the stone. And, I'm still the scared, cast-off son of a fairy and a demon.”

He walked over to stand across the workbench from her and opened the book, leafing through the pages. “You have said that you loved the whole of me – including the Darkness. The problem is you can't reconcile that with your innate heroism. When the Darkness manifests itself, your nature is to fight against it. You can't change who you are, and I don't want you to. But I can't change who I am either, and I've spent too long and twisted my self into too many knots trying to live up to your ideals.”

He turned the book around toward her and folded his hands on top of it, “I also can't trust that you won't find a reason to go to Zelena again. Or think it's a good idea to curse yourself again. Because I will try to save you, and you won't agree with my methods, and we'll be back here. Again. With you threatening to take my son away and me putting a tracking spell on you.” He gestured at the gold cuff on her arm, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Belle glanced at her arm, and then back up to him. “So – where do we stand? We love each other – and don't deny that I love you – but we can't trust each other? Where do we go from here?”

Rumple reached out and took Belle's hand, “From here on out, we tell each other the truth – good, bad and otherwise. If we work together, no one can stop us from finding our son.” 

Belle looked down at their joined hands, and smiled tightly. He wasn't wearing his ring, and that hurt her more than she thought it would. She sniffled and wiped away a tear. They were closing off this chapter of their lives, and moving on to the next. “Where do we start?”

Rumple let go of her hand and nodded, pushing the book toward her. “We start by putting our cards on the table. I had hoped you wouldn't need to see this, but we're past that now.”

Belle looked down at the book and realized that it was written in Fairy. “I thought you didn't read Fairy?”

Rumple shrugged, “I had a free weekend.”

Belle traced through the script, piecing together the words from memory and context. It was a prophecy – a child of fairy blood who walked in the world of dreams. Her eyes widened – he was fated to be the last Savior, and lead the Black Fairy back from exile. Belle pushed the book away, her hands shaking, and her eyes widened as she realized, “The shears! That was what you wanted them for – to keep him from being the Savior!”

Rumple nodded, removing the shears from his jacket pocket and handing them to Belle. “At first I didn't want to tell you about the prophecy, and then it was too late when Zelena had you convinced I was planning on using the shears to force him to love me -”

“Instead of saving him from the prophecy that I doomed him to by idiotically cursing the both of us,” Belle completed, feeling numb. How could she have thought a sleeping curse was a good thing? Especially when she was carrying a child? Why was Rumple not furious with her for endangering the baby?

Rumple walked to the coat rack and shrugged his coat on. He had hoped to avoid Belle understanding the consequences of her decision. It would always tear at his heart to see her in pain. “Belle – I have seen more than my fair share of curses, and if you are meant to be cursed, you cannot escape it.”

“I'm not sure I believe that,” Belle muttered, following Rumple into the main shop.

“We'll have to agree to disagree on that, then.” Rumple opened the safe and pulled out a vial.

“What's that for?”

Rumple held the vial up to the light and Belle saw shiny flecks in the dark sand. “This will let us trace that sanctimonious blue bug that has our child.”

Belle took his arm, “Then, what are we waiting for?” Rumple nodded, teleporting them to the convent. Belle felt a chill run down her spine as she looked up to where Blue had disappeared from her sight with Gideon. Belle looked back down to see Rumple drawing symbols on the grass using the dark sand – they almost looked like fairy script, but the exact translation eluded her.

She looked at Rumple as he concentrated on the spell. He was right about their trust issues, but he wasn't right about everything. “Rumple?”

He looked up at her, an eyebrow raised, “Hm?”

“Our True Love isn't destroyed, Rumple. It is a bit battered and broken, but something that's broken can be fixed.”

Rumple smiled sadly, “Ever the optimist.”

Belle shook her head, “Not optimist – realist. True Love is worth fighting for, and we owe it to our son and ourselves not to let it go.”

Rumple stood up with a smile at the corner of his mouth. He took Belle's hand and kissed it, “I know better than to doubt you, sweetheart.”


End file.
